From a young age, I always hated family reunions. It wasn't because I didn't like any members my family (though I did dislike nearly all of them) or because of the way they would all look at me, like I was a disappointment to them all. No, it was just the pure awkwardness of the whole situation. I've never been good in social situations; I'm always too clumsy, too easily embarrassed, too damn awkward.

So instead of interacting with people, I would always sit in the corner, my nose in a book, hoping and praying that nobody would notice me. My dad would always yell at me about it when we got home, but that was still more bearable than showing myself up in front of tens of people. I never knew how to keep a good conversation going. I mean, what was I supposed to say to somebody I hadn't seen in years?

That question was the first thing that crossed my mind when I lifted my head to look at the person who was standing in front of me, blocking the sunlight which had been shining onto the pages on my book moments earlier. I felt the earbud in my left ear pull out slightly as Briseis, who had the other in her ear, looked up.

I think we were both expecting Paris and Hector, or maybe even Menelaus if he was in a bad mood. (After all, we were sitting outside in plain sight, books in our hands. I was wearing my reading glasses, which were actually being held together with tape after Paris snapped them in half, stupidly thinking that I couldn't see without them. Could we look any more nerdy and defenceless?) So yeah, Hector, Paris or Menelaus were to be expected, but not Achilles.

Achilles had always left us alone. Maybe he felt sorry for us, since we were already so pathetic. Maybe a small part of him felt bad for me, since we used to be friends. Or maybe he just didn't want me to bring any embarrassing childhood memories up to his 'friends'. Probably the latter; the other two would require some extent of decency.

Briseis instantly shied away, accidentally pulling the earbud out of my ear fully. I didn't bother to put it back in. Carefully folding the corner of my book, I closed it and wordlessly handed it to her. She slipped it into my bag for me as I crossed my arms, looking Achilles up and down judgementally.

"Yes?" I asked, sounding bored. I had decided that my best shot was to act sassy. Worst case scenario? I got punched. I found that unlikely, since Achilles seemed to have little fight left in him after the events that had occurred earlier that day. Already, I could make out a purple bruise forming on his cheek.

"Patroclus, I want-" I snorted.

"You want something? And you expect me to give it to you? Cute." I didn't miss the way a muscle in his jaw ticked as he balled his fists.

"Listen." He growled.

"Why should I?" I never spoke to anybody else this way. Then again, Achilles wasn't like anybody else.

"Do you know who I am?" He was practically seething. He always had a short temper.

"Achilles Pelides, ex star football player, ex sprinter, ex heartthrob of the school..." I punctuated each 'ex' by mining timing off a list. "Need I go on?" I was rubbing it in now, and I knew had to rein myself in before he snapped.

Briseis watched the exchange silently. She probably didn't understand much of what we were saying, but she obviously understood the general gist. She knew exactly what I did (since I translated it all to her), which was nearly everything, thanks to the amount of gossiping that had spread through the school like wildfire. Achilles was the entire school's main talking point, as he had managed to turn almost the whole school against him in half a day.

First he dumped Deidamia, the head cheerleader of the school and his girlfriend of two years, who in turn made everybody who liked her (which was nearly everybody) give him shit over it. He then picked a fight with Menelaus. Thanks to boxing lessons, Achilles won. As revenge, Menelaus got his brother Agamemnon, the captain I the football team, to kick him off the team. Then he was told that he couldn't compete in sprinting competitions until he got his grades up. I almost felt sorry for him, but I knew that he deserved it.

"Patroclus, please." Achilles sighed, hanging his head. He looked almost sheepish.

"What do you want?" I sighed, tilting my head back so it touched the wall of the school building behind me.

"I want your help." Achilles mumbled.

"I'm sorry?" I asked innocently.

"I want-"

"Want?"

"Need." Achilles hissed. "I need your help."

"Hmm." I closed my eyes. He obviously needed me to help him get his grades up. I already knew that I would comply, if he agreed not to be such a dick to me. After all, I wasn't an asshole. I just wanted him to humble himself a little first. "Sit down, you're blocking the sunlight." He didn't move, so I opened one eye, then the other. "Sit down." I repeated, but not forcefully.

Achilles glanced around, then shook his head.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I have a reputation to uphold, and being seen with people like you would ruin it." He tells me. Shameless, I bursted out laughing.

"Ti eínai tóso asteío?" Briseis asked me, frowning with confusion. Between my gasps, I managed to tell her what Achilles said. She looked at him incredulously, then joined me, laughing loudly. Achilles glared at us.

By the time we finally calmed down, Achilles was fuming.

"Sorry, it's just... You have a reputation to uphold?" I asked, feigning surprise. "What reputation? The one that went down the drain this morning?"

"Shut up!"

"Or what?" I challenged, raising one eyebrow (mostly just to annoy him; he couldn't do it (when we were kids he was always annoyed because I could and he couldn't)) and leaning back. "Will you get your 'friends' to beat us up?" I made quotations with my hands as I said friends. "I'm sure they'll listen to you, you're so well respected."

Achilles's knuckles turned white as he clenched his fists tighter.

"You know what? Forget it." He turned on his heel and stormed off, kicking a rock across the ground as he went.

Briseis lifted one earbud, silently asking me if I wanted to listen to more music. Most of our friendship was gestures and looks, since my Greek wasn't very good and she was still rubbish at speaking English. We were teaching eachother, but the going was slow.

I checked my watch then shook my head, showing her what it said. Lessons were due to start again in less than two minutes. Nodding in understanding, she wrapped the earbuds around her phone and slipped it into her pocket, getting to her feet. I followed suit, my gaze sweeping across the school yard as I did.

Achilles was standing in the shadows, watching me. I couldn't make out his expression very well, and before I managed to get a better look, a pack of cheerleaders strode past him and he quickly disappeared inside the school building.